Two years ago, an estimated 5,000 people came to budget hearings when the Phoenix budget was facing a $277 million shortfall, arguing and appealing to city leaders to preserve the programs they favored. Organized groups from the library, after-school programs, parks, the arts and public safety all showed up to chip in their 2 cents' worth.

The turnout was down last year as the budget improved, and down even more this year as the economy has gotten even better.

Next fiscal year's budget is set at $1.06 billion, a small increase from the fiscal 2011-12 budget, and about 5 percent higher than the $1.01 billion spent in 2010-11.

Many of the budget improvements came about as a result of city officials identifying more than $4 million in efficiencies. Combined with improvements in the economy, resulting in higher sales-tax collections, the city tentatively will spend $5.3 million to expand direct services such as libraries and graffiti control.

No cuts are being made, but city departments have not recovered and may never return to the highest levels of the early 2000s.

Not everything is rosy, however.

Several council members say the budget cannot truly be considered balanced until the 2 percent food tax is repealed. District 2 City Councilman Jim Waring said at one hearing that he would oppose the budget because of that, and because employee costs remain too high.

At the hearings, however, the food tax was not high on people's minds. Nowhere to be seen were many of the people from previous hearings, including several who urged budget reforms that the city ultimately adopted, including the publication online of the full city budget and zero-based budgeting for city departments.

At a hearing recently in north Phoenix, only three members of the public spoke -- two in support of libraries and one thanking the city for at least beginning to restore arts funds to previous levels. About 20 residents or fewer attended, not including city staff.

Waring, who hosted the meeting at Paradise Valley Community Center, said no one showed up at a meeting the previous night at the Black Mountain police precinct office.

A few nights later, fewer than 10 residents attended a meeting at the Goelet A. Beuf Community Center in northwest Phoenix, compared to about 30 employees. There, at least one speaker questioned city priorities, specifically the need for 17 full-time security guards at libraries.

The low turnout could be attributed to the number of city meetings over the past couple of months. Residents were asked to participate in meetings on public-transit changes, redistricting of council districts, employee compensation and the budget, on top of normally scheduled city meetings.

Stanton said it is normal for folks to show up to defend their budget priorities, and less likely for the public to show up when their priorities are being met.

Councilman Bill Gates of District 3 said the city's additional budget transparency may account for the lower turnouts. More information and more details are available online for the public to study, he said.

"We now have a zero-based budget, which I'm very excited about. Many of my colleagues and I have pushed for this as long as we've been on the council," Gates told a couple of dozen residents who attended Tuesday morning's budget hearing at Shadow Mountain Senior Center.

"Basically, what this means is that for the first time you can go online and you actually see how we've come up with the final budget number. It's broken down by each program so you can look at it and say, 'Hey, I didn't know we were spending X amount of dollars on this vs. that.' It helps make this process more transparent."

Throughout the hearings, residents expressed concerns about numerous issues, from street repairs to illegal signs to the potential loss of a bus route. Some called for restoration of even more funding to parks and libraries.

"The biggest issue is restoration of library hours," Gates said after the meeting. "When you take kids by the library at 7 and it's closed, what do you tell them?"